John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I could argue with the previous speaker, but we are not here to do that tonight. Instead, I am going to talk about workplace accidents, which are far too common, especially on farms. I carry plenty of battle scars from accidents on farms. Unfortunately a farm is one of the most dangerous workplaces in Australia. People are killed and many are seriously injured each year.

I want to talk about an invention, a very simple invention which I think rural Australia is going to see a lot of in the future. Just over three years ago, Inverell farmer Ed Evans was injured in a cattle yard accident. This is not uncommon in Australia. On average, something like 2,500 people are injured every year in such accidents—and these are just the ones reported. In the case of Ed Evans, he was treating a cow with antibiotics and he just happened to let the animal go out of the crush when it turned and rammed the gate. Ed suffered a badly broken foot as a result of that accident. As he was recuperating with his leg in plaster—after having finished making a special crutch so he could get around more easily—he turned his mind to his accident in the cattle yard. Ed knew that there must be a safer way to handle cattle and to prevent, or at least limit, the number of accidents. It was not too long afterwards that he visited my office in Inverell and drew a sketch of his idea. That sketch evolved into the Swing Gate. It is a very simple but extremely innovative concept.

It is magnificent that such a simple idea could get first prize on The New Inventors on the ABC last week—first right across the year. It is a very simple invention. Ed had been promoting the product for some time and he had won several awards—the regional Farm Inventor of the Year, the national Farm Inventor of the Year and the Queensland Farm Inventor of the Year. He was a finalist in two categories of the WorkCover safety awards and was runner-up in the Northern Inland Innovation Awards. But the prize of prizes came last week when the Swing Gate won first prize for the year on The New Inventors on the ABC.

I do not really know how to describe the Swing Gate. I simply say that a normal gate is just fixed across between the two posts but that this one swings in the middle. When the cattle crash the gate, the swinging bit just goes around and you are safe because you are protected. You are much safer. I commend Ed Evans for his innovation and his thoughts. He had, as I said, seriously broken his foot because of a cranky beast crashing the gate. To think that a simple idea like this could take out first prize on The New Inventors! I have no doubt that, for many years to come, these gates will be installed all around Australia—perhaps even all around the world in those countries where many cattle are handled. Ed is not a marketer. He says he is not a professional businessman with respect to production and marketing. He is seeking business to assist him with the next stage of his whole plan.

We know the OH&S regulations. We know the cost of injuries at work. I live in New South Wales, where we have seen a huge increase in workers compensation fees for businesses. Premiums have gone up. It has been outrageously expensive for business in New South Wales. I can only talk for New South Wales because that is the only place I have run a business. When people are injured they go off on workers comp. That is more cost. Of course, every business pays that through their premium. This is a step in the right direction to help lower those premiums, especially in the livestock industry and for those involved with the handling of livestock.

The saddest thing that could ever happen in any workplace would be when someone goes off to work for the day never to return home, when someone is killed, whether in a motor vehicle accident travelling to or from work or at work. To me, that would be the saddest thing any family could put up with—to leave of a morning and never again see a husband or wife or one of your children or other loved ones. It is a tragedy. Here is a simple invention that can make life so much more safe in the cattle yards. No doubt other things will flow on from this invention.

I simply rose tonight to congratulate Ed Evans. He was injured by a cattle gate which was hit by a cranky beast. He suffered a broken foot. He put his mind into action and thought, 'There is some way I can make this a little bit safer, a little bit better.' He went on to win all the awards I mentioned and then took out the first prize for the inventor of the year award from the ABC. That was a tremendous feather in his cap. I commend Ed. Through this idea, I am sure that for many years to come in working with livestock, lives will be saved, injuries will be prevented and workers comp premiums will be low. The best thing of all is that people who go off to work will return home safely to their family at the end of the day. That is the most important thing.

Ed Evans, you are a champion; you have done tremendously well. We commend you on your first prize and all the other awards you have won with your invention. We look forward to seeing it out there active in the local saleyards—perhaps local council operated saleyards—and in the feedlots, which are numerous around Australia now, with the huge cattle industry and feedlotting, and in the general farms where 30 million or so cattle run in Australia. Many properties have cattle yards, and that is where we will see a safer working environment. We know it is going to come down to the good thoughts, the good ideas and the hard work of Ed Evans. I congratulate him for it.